Sanchez, 27, led the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship Games in his first two seasons and had a career-high 26 touchdown passes in 2011, when the Jets went 8-8. But he turned the ball over a combined 52 times in 2011 and 2012 and had surgery on his throwing shoulder in October.

Sanchez, who is 4-2 in the postseason with nine touchdown passes and three interceptions, has three years left on his contract. He has a $13.1 million salary-cap figure for 2014, and the Jets would save $8.3 million against the cap by releasing him, Costello reports.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to think that the team would keep him,” a team executive told Costello.

Sanchez is doing rehab work on his shoulder in Birmingham, Ala., and he is due a $2 million roster bonus in March.